Housing Concepts - Oikodomos

OIKODOMOS Housing Concepts
PROXIMITY
Proximity: The state, quality, sense or fact of being near or next; closeness.
Proximity is clearly about distance, but we should not simply define a distance as
the length between two points. Its meaning should widen and define proximity as a
mix of social, territorial, symbolic and physical aspects. For example, one can
utilize the physical proximity while experiencing a set of important social
boundaries. This is exemplified in a housing block where one lives close to
neighbours but have no real social relationship. The opposite situation can occur
as well: living in a house with a surrounding garden and having a real intense
relationship with one’s neighbours. Likewise, we can notice the difference between
rural or more urbanised areas that affect the model of proximity: density,
functional mix, accessibility and the way of defining limits affects the reading of
relative distances.
In other words, proximity does not refer to absolute values but is a relative
issue, lately in an increasing way. New technologies define new models of
proximity, thereby configuring relationships based on car traffic or public
transport, wireless technologies, eliminating distances. On the macro scale, air
traffic also changes the way we inhabit the contemporary landscape.
Urban planners can design physical borders and know how we can create or destroy
them, but they cannot control all the defining social factors.
In an urban context,
proximity is defined by
the relationship to
accessing and moving in
the interdependence
between two points. ”Hutongs”
in Beijing are
based on sets of
repetitive relative
distances with social
meaning. The recent
changes in the urban
configuration on a larger
scale have produced new
boundaries within the
city, interrupting the
inhabitants’ initial
understanding and
intuition of proximity.
The change is not only
visual or physical but
also has consequences in
the social behavior of
its inhabitants.